Rise and fall of conflicting intuitions during reasoning

Bence Bago, Paris Descartes University, Paris, France

Wim De Neys, Paris Descartes University, Paris, France

Abstract

Recent dual process models proposed that the strength of competing
intuitions determines reasoning performance. A key challenge at this point is to
search for boundary conditions; identify cases in which the strength of different
intuitions will be weaker/stronger. Therefore, we ran two studies with the
two-response paradigm in which people are asked to give two answers to a given
reasoning problem. We adopted base-rate problems in which base rate and
stereotypic information can cue conflicting intuitions. By manipulating the
information presentation order, we aimed to manipulate their saliency; and by
that, indirectly the activation strength of the intuitions. Contrary to our
expectation, we observed that the order manipulation had opposite effects in the
initial and final response stages. We explain these results by taking into
account that the strength of intuitions is not constant but changes over time;
they have a peak, a growth, and a decay rate.